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Want to Win a Business or Industry Award? Follow These Important Tips When Applying

Posted: 26 Jun 2020 08:16 AM PDT

Winning a business or industry award can be a great honor for your business, as well as a great PR opportunity. However, to be considered for many awards, you’ll need to submit an application that’s reviewed by an award committee. To help you with this process, we asked the members of Young Entrepreneur Council the following question:

What is an important thing to remember when applying for a business or industry award? Why is this so important?

1. Have a unique angle

Come up with an angle that’s different from every submission the judge is going to be looking at. Focus on what makes you unique and different. What makes you different from the rest? What have you got that no one else can copy? —Solomon Thimothy, OneIMS

 

2. Get your team involved

No entrepreneur who is looking to scale can go it alone. Don’t forget your team when you are considering moving forward on an award. If you don’t share in the wealth of an award, then your team likely won’t be around for the long haul. Only thinking of yourself is a sure way to be by yourself. —Brad Burns, Wayne Contracting

 

3. Paint a complete picture of your brand

Make sure you highlight what is different about you. What is your brand story? See this question as an opportunity to paint a picture of your business. Explain your passion, how it all began, how your business has grown, and your future plans. Make sure you touch on your mission, values, and the culture of the business. These elements are the foundation of your brand and serve as key differentiators. —Blair Thomas, eMerchantBroker

4. Study the previous winners

Before applying, take a look at who the previous winners were and see where they are now. Make sure that they are still going strong and have elevated their businesses since winning. Applying for an award that does nothing for your career is a waste of time and energy. —Zach Binder, Bell + Ivy

 

5. Have a reputable industry player nominate you

Most committees take a reputable third-party nomination more seriously than a self-nomination, so if you are looking for an award, it might be worthwhile to speak to someone in your network who is very well-known and experienced to nominate you. —Nicole Munoz, Nicole Munoz Consulting, Inc.

 

6. Consider the potential value of applying

Consider what will come as a result of applying for and winning an award. Some awards grant you access to additional resources, a community of fellow winners to collaborate or connect with. The results of the award are just as, if not more, valuable than the award itself. Look at an award as a tool to help grow your business and spread your mission—not simply a plaque to place behind your desk. —Jared Weitz, United Capital Source Inc.

7. Know your value proposition

Why you and not someone else? What’s different about you? What’s your value proposition? Keep it very clear and present at all times. Do you solve any problem for society and the world in general? What specifically? Be clear and concise, and get to the point. Show utility, resolution, relevance, innovation, and that you are disruptive. Show them you deserve that award. —Kevin Leyes, Leyes Media & Team Leyes, by Leyes Enterprises

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8. Leverage your story and statistics

It’s important to remember that you should communicate your individual story in addition to metrics of success. Some people only focus on their inspirational journey and some only focus on statistics of their increase in revenue. Both elements are essential for crafting an award nomination that effectively communicates why you should be recognized. —Jennifer A Barnes, Optima Office, Inc.

9. Become the industry benchmark first

There are many players in an industry, and becoming the leader or a benchmark will inflate your brand’s value in the eyes of others. Have a unique way of approaching marketing, sales, and customer relationships. Just strive to be the best at what you are doing and the reward will follow. Once you meet all the standards and become the benchmark to others, then you can proceed with the application. —Vikas Agrawal, Infobrandz

10. Make sure it’s merit-based

There are awards out there that exist only to boost egos. Some awards exist because they were paid for by those who win them. For an industry-related award, you want to receive it because you deserve it. It’s about your achievements and success, and if you have nothing to show for it, it’s embarrassing and undeserving. —Stephanie Wells, Formidable Forms

 

11. Spend your time and effort on the right applications

It’s important to apply to the right arena or industry when you’re trying for an award. If you do win or get nominated for the award, it can add to your credibility and help you get recognition. —Syed Balkhi, WPBeginner

 

12. Highlight an achievement that shows innovation and impact

When you apply, make sure it’s with your best story. Skip the marketing pitch that won you the biggest client account. Pick the best achievement you had that demonstrates your innovation and impact—that’s the one that’ll most likely get you the win because it will resonate with the jury. It’s about the impact and benefit of your story, not just the products you used to achieve it. —Thomas Griffin, OptinMonster

13. Have a plan to leverage your success if you win

Don't think that your work is over once you win. Yes, award programs can come with their own benefits and exposure, but it's up to you to leverage your success to the fullest extent possible. You should know exactly how you will use the award in your branding, in attracting new clients and employees, or in creating new business. Receiving the award should simply set into motion an existing plan. —Jordan Conrad, Writing Explained

RELATED: Once Upon a Brand: Learning the Art of Business Storytelling

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Expanding Your Small Business Out of State: Navigating Legal Requirements for Your LLC or Corporation

Posted: 26 Jun 2020 08:04 AM PDT

By James Gilmer

In a digital world, your small business may be serving customers and markets in neighboring states and beyond. While this growth can be exhilarating, don't let additional legal requirements take the wind out of your sails.

Each state has different rules for registering your LLC or corporation to "do business." Failure to comply can result in state-enforced penalties, lost opportunities, and bad publicity. On the other hand, knowing the requirements ahead of time can result in better preparedness for opportunity and even profitability.

What are the requirements in other states?

The first thing to know when doing business in a new state is that the requirements will be different from your home state. While the details vary from state to state, most states do share some common requirements, including:

  • Registration of the legal entity with the state corporations official, usually the Secretary of State
  • Appointment of a registered agent for service of process
  • Rules and restrictions regarding the entity's legal name and purpose
  • Annual or biennial reporting to stay in good standing

The most substantial difference when registering in a new state is that your entity will be considered "foreign," which means "out of state." Your business can only have one home state or domicile, which is the state where you incorporated or formed your LLC.

The process of registering the legal entity is known as "foreign qualification." As part of that process, you are applying for authority to transact business in a foreign jurisdiction. Instead of filing articles of incorporation or organization, you will file an application for a certificate of authority. With that application, you'll appoint a registered agent with an address in that state, submit proof of good standing from your domicile, and pay a filing fee.

By way of foreign qualification, you still have one legal entity, but you will have successfully registered to do business in another state.

Foreign qualification takes place separately in each state where you plan to do business. If your LLC or corporation plans to do business in multiple states, that means you have to be prepared to appoint a registered agent, file the required applications for authority, and maintain good standing by tracking and filing state annual reports on an ongoing basis. Depending on your business, you may have additional obligations to:

  • Register for and pay state taxes, such as corporation income, sales, and payroll
  • Apply for and maintain licenses and permits, depending on your industry, location, and activities

Because these additional requirements can be complex, business owners are encouraged to research their specific activities before registering and use the advice of legal counsel wherever possible.

When do I need to register in a new state?

Knowing whether registration in a new state is required and when it should happen, are critical pieces of information to any small business owner. After all, state registration can be expensive, time-consuming, and a drain on internal resources. Smart business owners will register proactively, but do so only when absolutely necessary.

The first thing to know is that "doing business" is a loosely defined concept. Most states provide a list of what does not constitute doing business, and leaves deciding what does constitute "doing business" to each company (and at times, the courts).

Historically, however, "doing business" has roughly equated to having an ongoing presence in a given state. Examples might include maintaining an office or warehouse, having employees, and conducting regular interstate commerce.

The subject of taxation also arises, particularly in the wake of South Dakota v. Wayfair, which can result in sales tax registration and reporting obligations for out-of-state companies with sizeable numbers of in-state transactions and sales. The thresholds established in Wayfair vary by state. Online-based businesses should take particular care to abide by the additional requirements triggered by this decision.

Registration in a new state should generally take place before transacting business, or you may face penalties and consequences. State corporation and taxation authorities can enforce late fees and additional franchise taxes at the time of application for a certificate of authority. In some states, these fees can quickly amount to hundreds or thousands of dollars.

Unregistered companies that get caught, such as via consumer complaint or government intervention, can face civil and even criminal penalties and loss of access to the courts. This stings doubly with your customers, too. You can imagine the impact this could have on both your reputation and your ability to get paid!

In cases of uncertainty, it's best to contact your attorney or legal counsel to interpret how the laws of a given state apply to you. Doing so before you scale up your operations will help you stay ahead of any adverse consequences.

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Strategies for complying with state requirements

There's no one-size-fits-all strategy for every business. Regardless of your model, however, you can apply a plan-do-check-act approach when expanding into any new state.

Plan: Start by looking at your current scope of activities. Are you doing business anywhere you haven't properly registered? Then assess the overall horizon for your business. In the next 12 to 18 months, what is your growth strategy? What markets are you planning to enter? In both of these scenarios, plan to close any gaps in your compliance in order to stay ahead of upcoming opportunities. Because some state agencies can take weeks or months to approve your registrations, a longer outlook will be necessary.

Do: Few small businesses have the in-house resources to research and to pursue registration in new states efficiently. Those that do should have centralized records, key responsibilities defined, and mechanisms for tracking renewals and executive oversight. Companies that don't have the capacity (or the desire) to handle research and paperwork outside their home state have the option of leveraging external filing services and software to track their requirements. In all cases, take action proactively!

Check: Once you've expanded and registered where you need to, reanalyze the original gaps. Have you taken the necessary steps to address existing issues? Are you prepared for the opportunities in your forecast? Remember, your clients and vendors may need proof of your state registration before signing an agreement or paying you!

Act: With any sound strategy, make adjustments as needed, including to any internal support systems or external vendors you've hired to stay compliant. As your opportunities and business priorities shift, make sure your approach to compliance is proactive and moves in tandem.

Expanding your business into new markets and states means growth and opportunity. Don't let compliance obligations slow you down. Becoming compliant requires top-to-bottom understanding and buy-in, but by pairing compliance responsibilities with business development objectives will result in more agile responsiveness to opportunity and profitability. What are you waiting for?

Disclaimer: Harbor Compliance does not provide tax, financial, or legal advice. Use of our services does not create an attorney-client relationship. Harbor Compliance is not acting as your attorney and does not review information you provide to us for legal accuracy or sufficiency.

RELATED: These 5 Common Legal Mistakes Can Hurt Your Small Business

About the Author

Post by: James Gilmer

James Gilmer is a Compliance Specialist at Harbor Compliance, a leading provider of compliance solutions for companies of all types and sizes. Founded by a team of government licensing specialists and technology trailblazers, Harbor Compliance has helped more than 25,000 organizations apply for, secure, and maintain licensing across all industries. James is passionate about helping nonprofit organizations leverage compliance to enhance their fundraising and program activities and educating the sector on compliance issues. James is also a co-founder of Berks Sinfonietta, Inc., a nonprofit chamber orchestra located in Reading, Pennsylvania.

Company: Harbor Compliance
Website: www.harborcompliance.com
Connect with me on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn.

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Are You Keeping Your Employees Safe? These Workplace Policies Can Help

Posted: 26 Jun 2020 07:33 AM PDT

Whether you have returned to your office or other physical location, permanently transformed to a virtual business, or created some hybrid solution, it's essential you keep your employees safe—and I don't mean from the coronavirus. Many small businesses don't pay attention to HR and overlook creating company policies that are crucial to protecting their staff.

Creating company policies may seem like busywork, but if you don't codify your expectations of certain behaviors, it could cost you a lot—even your business. Here are three workplace issues you should seriously consider creating official company policies around.

1. Sexual harassment

While sexual harassment is not a new issue, with the advent of the #MeToo movement, it should be top of mind for business of all sizes. Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 made it illegal to discriminate based on sex. In the late 1980s the Supreme Court expanded the definition to include sexual harassment in the workplace.

As the business owner, you are responsible for doing everything in your power to discourage unacceptable sexual innuendos, unwelcome physical contact, and more. Currently, it's a requirement in seven states for businesses to regularly provide mandatory sexual harassment training to all employees, and most other states require training for public employees.

Sexual harassment can manifest in a variety of forms, according to the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), such as:

  • The victim, as well as the harasser, may be a woman or a man, and the victim does not need to be of the opposite sex from the harasser.
  • The harasser may be the victim's supervisor, an agent of the employer, a supervisor in another area, a coworker, or a nonemployee, such as a vendor or customer.
  • The victim does not have to be the person harassed but could be anyone affected by the offensive conduct.
  • Unlawful sexual harassment may occur without economic injury to or discharge of the victim.
  • Harassment does not have to be of a sexual nature. It can include offensive remarks about a person’s sex. For example, says the EEOC, it is illegal to harass a woman by making offensive comments about women in general

Even if training is not required in your state, as an employer you are liable for harassment lawsuits brought by employees or vendors of your company.

What should you do if someone files a sexual harassment claim? Contact your attorney immediately. There are some tips here as well.

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2. Cybercrime

This might surprise you but according to research by Ponemon Institute, 76% of SMBs in the United States experienced a cyberattack last year. And for a small business the cost of a data breach can be devastating. The average cyberattack costs smaller companies an average $3,533 per employee. It takes an average 206 days to identify a risk and another 73 days to contain it, making the life cycle of a data breach 279 days.

A key component to keeping your business safe from hackers is to create a cybersecurity program to educate employees what to look out for. Not sure where to start? Require employees to protect personal and company devices with passwords and antivirus software programs. Educate them about safe email practices, such as not opening suspicious attachments and clickbait subject lines. Passwords should be complex and changed at least every three months.

Remote workers need to especially follow cybersecurity policies and not share their devices with family members. Have your IT specialist inspect virtual employee systems and security measures to ensure sensitive information is safe from attack.

The FCC offers a free cyber planner wizard to create a custom guide for your business and offers expert advice to address your business's concerns.

3. Remote working

More and more businesses are making the permanent switch to operating virtually. Whether you plan to go virtual full time, or offer it as a sometimes option, you need to establish consistent work-from-home policies.

First, make it clear whether the switch to operate virtually is permanent or temporary. Make sure you comply with any applicable state laws. And tell your staff what your expectations of them are, from work hours to mandatory meetings.

Ron Culler, Senior Director of Technology and Solutions at ADT Cybersecurity, offers some tips for making a work-from-home transition as seamless as possible:

  • Put smart home security systems to work. According to the FBI, a burglary happens every 22.6 seconds in the United States. And 88% of those burglaries occur in residential areas very often during the day. If your employees already have home security systems, they should treat their home security just as they would if working from the office. This includes arming the security system, leveraging smart home system devices like outdoor and doorbell cameras and motion detectors to see approaching visitors, and monitoring their surroundings so they can remain safe and focused on work.
  • Keep corporate equipment with employees. Working remotely might tempt employees to default to their personal devices instead of using corporate-owned computers. This poses a risk because personal laptops likely don't have the same antivirus software and monitoring systems in place like work computers do to keep information secure. When at all possible, workers should use their work laptops for work and adhere to corporate-approved protocols, hardware and software—from firewalls to VPNs—to help avoid cyber headaches, especially if work-from-home policies last for extended periods of time.
  • Schedule more video conferences. Not only do virtual calls help maintain social interaction, they help keep communication flowing directly and in a controlled, private environment.
  • Keep data on corporate systems. Many businesses using cloud technology might not have this problem, but it's important to remind employees that all files should remain on corporate-owned channels, whether that's over email or on the cloud. The cyber protections that employees were used to having in place in the office might not carry over to an at-home work environment.

All these policies, and any others you create, should be codified in your employee handbook and on your company intranet (if you have one.) Make it clear any violations of the policy will have serious consequences, as a security breach resulting from employee noncompliance could lead to lawsuits or even the loss of your business.

RELATED: Could Your Company's Social Media Policy Land You in Legal Hot Water?

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How to Grow Your Business With the Help of Marketing Automation

Posted: 26 Jun 2020 07:30 AM PDT

A case can be made these days for just about any business to implement marketing automation. In fact, marketing automation processes have become so popular that 51% of all companies already use them.

One marketing channel that has greatly benefited from the power of automation is email marketing. In fact, over 55% of e-commerce marketers for B2B organizations currently engage in email marketing automation. Email marketing's high level of return on investment reigns supreme above all other marketing channels.

So, what is email marketing automation?

Email automation is the process of sending targeted marketing email content at predefined or designated moments. Automated email sending can also be triggered by the behavior or actions of a potential customer. Email automation helps businesses convert free trial users and leads into paid subscribers.

But email marketing automation just one of the various ways to automate your marketing campaigns. The following are ways that marketing automation tools can give your business an advantage.

Benefits of marketing automation

1. Nurture leads

Automating marketing tasks is a quick and easy way to increase conversions without increasing expenses. This is why 86% of businesses believe marketing automation tools are one of the most efficient ways to nurture leads and increase conversions.

Lead generation, however, is just one part of the revenue building process. You need to put measures in place that create relationships between your brand and your leads. These measures are referred to as methods of lead nurturing.

Lead nurturing is the process of educating leads about your services and products in hopes of increasing the likelihood they will eventually convert. The end result of the lead nurturing process is sales-ready customers who turn into loyal brand ambassadors.

So, how can you use email marketing automation tools to convert more leads to paying customers?

Capture more leads via lead generation forms. Over 68% of B2B marketers use lead capture forms on their websites. Unfortunately, 40% of them have poor conversion rates.

Optimizing your sign-up forms can have a significantly positive impact on your bottom line. As an example, Expedia had a $12 million increase in annual profits by simply eliminating one friction-causing field from their landing page.

Landing page testing tools like Unbounce and Instapage can help you create attractive and engaging landing pages that you can easily A/B test to optimize conversion rates. By using automation tools that create optimized landing pages you will not only capture more leads, but also high-quality sales leads that convert faster.

Automate personalized emails. Smart marketers understand the power of personalization and how to effectively use it in email marketing. When your optimized sign-up forms capture a new lead, send them a warm personalized welcome email.

Email outreach tools can send your greeting within a set period of time after the new lead is captured. I like to use Intercom for this.

There's plenty of marketing data that supports personalizing your outreach emails:

2. Improves customer satisfaction

So, you've automated your lead generation processes and you're capturing leads through your website's sign-up forms. The next question is "how satisfied are your customers?"

Will they come back and make another purchase or did they leave feeling disappointed? Customer satisfaction is critical for every business and provides benefits such as:

  • Reduced churn
  • Differentiation in the competitive market
  • An indicator of loyalty and repurchase intent
  • Ensures the increase of the lifetime value of your customers
  • Reduces the cost of acquiring new customers
  • Cuts down on the adverse effects of negative feedback or word of mouth

According to a Walker B2B customer progress report, customers want effortless interactions with your brand. The report also suggests that B2B customers expect more personalization, simplicity, and speed.

To ensure high customer satisfaction rates, 68% of marketers use automation to enhance customer engagement. 58% of them use these tools to communicate with their leads and customers efficiently.

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3. Saves time

Over time, marketing has become more and more complex. To stay engaged with your brand, prospects want personalized and real-time reactions. Automation and AI can do the grunt work for you these days, to help keep up with these demands at an affordable price.

Consequently, IT specialists have built a wide range of machine learning and AI tools that speed up the decision-making process. Seventy-four percent of marketers say that the greatest advantage of automation tools is their ability to save time.

Email automation tools save time by handling menial tasks and giving your marketing team room to tackle high-level processes such as research and customer management.

Marketing automation should be used strategically and thoughtfully

While marketing automation tools offer many benefits for modern marketers, they should be used strategically and thoughtfully. Your marketing automation campaign should provide fresh and relevant content, and never come across as being spammy or pushy.

Remember, people want to do business with other people—not brands—so be sure to personalize your communication and keep in mind how you would want to be treated if you were your own brand's customer.

RELATED: 4 Little Email Marketing No-Nos That Could Land You In Big Trouble

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How to Stay Financially Afloat During the Coronavirus Pandemic

Posted: 26 Jun 2020 07:25 AM PDT

By Brian Kantor

If you've found yourself furloughed or unemployed due to COVID-19, or if your startup, small business, or side hustle trajectory has taken a harsh 180 in this new stay-at-home economy, this article is for you.

As the founder of Pour My Party, I am always interacting with current and potential vendors and partners as I work to grow our business. Not surprisingly, I've gotten tons of messages and bounce backs alerting me that my contact is no longer there or has been temporarily relieved of their duties. In many cases, I'm actually getting proactive notes from people asking if I’ve heard of any job openings or if I know anyone looking for a temp.

When these calls, notes, and messages began piling up, it got me thinking. What would I do if I needed to make a little extra money before feeling like I had to turn to Amazon for a warehouse gig (a noble, yet dangerous, role in this era of perpetual viral transmission)?

As one question led to another, I realized that this back-and-forth seemed pretty common and tough to sort through. As such, I've assembled this article in a decision tree format to help people take stock of their current situation and make moves accordingly.

Opening question: What industry are you in?

Before you start going through the process of actually looking for work, it's important to realize that organizations within many industries that depend on hourly employees have set up funds to help support those amazing people.

While many of our day-to-day clients/partners are the business owners themselves, my company still relies heavily on the spirits and hospitality industry as a whole. As the hourly employees of those businesses are crucial to their success, they're also indirectly critical to ours as well.

Along these lines, if you or someone you know has been downsized in one of these industries, there may be free money available to help soften the blow. There is absolutely no shame in applying for help. Eater has put together a comprehensive list for the hospitality industry, and Liquor.com has put together a similar list specifically for bartenders. (Note: If you depend on the bar and restaurant industry—aka, if you're someone who has ever had a drink at a bar or eaten at a restaurant—and have the means to help, please consider donating.)

While we're on the subject of asking for help, if you own one of these businesses, or any small business for that matter, Leslie Nilsson, the founder of Brooklyn caterer Bartleby & Sage, has put together a helpful resource of grants and loans available, as well as the stipulations surrounding them.

If you're in any other industry and no longer gainfully employed, your first step should be Googling whether there is any sort of financial assistance available to you. Again, since it bears repeating, there is no shame in taking a handout in times of need. Let this inspire you to lend a helping hand when your pockets are full.

After you've identified whether or not there is any "free money" available, take another hard look at your industry and ask yourself …

Plan A: Is this industry as a whole still viable?

If the answer is yes, then think about (or Google) what parts of that industry are still seeing success in the current economy. When you find those answers, figure out if you can sidestep into another part of your industry.

For example, if you're a caterer and usually create amazing food for events, can you leverage your existing kitchen in a new way? Perhaps you could pivot to a delivery-first model and essentially become a "ghost kitchen" with no storefront.

If you have a shop that crafts bespoke suiting, can you transition into making facemasks and selling them online? If you're a personal trainer, can you set up video sessions or classes?

Plan B: If your whole industry has been cut off, then look to your broader skill set for inspiration

In other words, ask yourself what skills you have that can be leveraged elsewhere. If you're in sales, for example, can you sell something else?

Maybe your experience is in selling cars. Since few Americans are upgrading their minivans this year, but a ton of hospitals are buying PPE, perhaps you can start selling swabs to hospitals and municipalities.

Can you become a freelancer?

If you previously were a staff web designer for a media company that downsized, can you freelance in web design for another company or business in another industry? Sites like Fiverr and Upwork are great places to flaunt your skills to those in need of freelance help.

Can you become a consultant?

Maybe you're a remote employee and have quickly become an expert at incorporating Zoom and Webex into a productive workflow. Can you consult for a brick-and-mortar business transitioning into remote work best practices?

Maybe you’re an associate brewer at a craft brewery that was forced to close its doors due to your state's specific social-distancing guidelines. Can you consult for a brewery in another state with different regulations? Can you consult for a couple of founders looking to launch a brand new brewery in the next few years?

Can you teach a class/course?

Virtual learning is hardly new, but now that people are staying home much more than they were pre-COVID, their available time to learn a new skill or to hone one they already have has gone way up.

If your career skills, or even your hobbies, are things that others may want to learn, this could be an amazing way to not just offset a COVID-19 furlough, but also to build long-term passive income.

Some of the more popular programs are Thinkific, Thrive, Teachable, and Podia. All have their pros and cons, and this article from Learning Revolution helps to break down all you need to know on these and others in the space.

Plan C: Explore unskilled remote work opportunities

If you don't have the skills or patience to freelance, become a consultant, or teach an online course, does that mean you're out of luck? Not so fast.

While the corona economy has obviously crushed tons of jobs, it has also created quite a few new ones and expanded others, all of which will ultimately need to be filled by someone. Why not you?

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Call centers and customer service

Not only are call centers for healthcare facilities getting overrun by people trying to schedule COVID-19 testing, but also financial institutions are seeing an influx of people trying to delay or renegotiate mortgage payments, and technology services are getting overrun by people trying to renegotiate existing contracts or set up new accounts. Broadly speaking, call centers and customer service roles across the board are certainly in increasing demand.

Take Zoom, for example. While they may not have really ballooned from 10 million users pre-COVID-19 to 300 million today as they had initially reported, they've still seen tremendous growth. To handle that tremendous growth and the technical issues sure to arise from that growth, someone is going to need to man the phones, right?

CNBC assembled a solid list of 18 companies hiring remote workers during the pandemic. Note that this list includes a mix of both skilled and unskilled positions. Don’t let the exact open positions listed here dissuade you from clicking through just because you're not qualified for those specific roles. Many of these, including Amazon, are hiring unskilled call-center employees as well. Click through each for up-to-date availability.

COVID contact tracing

This is a perfect example of a job that didn’t exist before the pandemic, but that has rapidly found relevance, and will be in need of a sizable workforce almost immediately.

As Americans begin returning to work slowly but surely in the coming weeks, a critical requirement in keeping potential future mass outbreaks low is by keeping a close eye on the clusters of people surrounding new positive cases. As such, state and local governments will be hiring contact tracers to work with COVID-19 patients to help them recall where they've been and who they've come in contact with so that other people who may have been infected can be notified and encouraged to self-quarantine.

According to Business Insider, the Fund for Public Health in New York City is offering a $57,000 salary with benefits for contact tracers. Not a bad deal at all.

Last resort: When all else fails, become an "essential worker"

First, let me start this off by saying that including this here is in no way intended to minimize the hard work and bravery displayed by existing warehouse workers or delivery drivers. It's their courage that has people from cities across the country cheering from their windows to honor these folks.

What I am suggesting, however, is that warehousing and delivery jobs often do not need specialized education and are certainly in demand right now.

Amazon announced in April it was hiring 175,000 warehouse jobs to handle the surge in orders from its platform. If you have a college degree and don't feel like you're up to the challenge of running the floor, someone is going to need to manage these new employees and handle associated operations. This massive new workforce should ripple positively (from a hiring perspective at least) across the organization.

And it's not just Amazon.

This single FedEx warehouse in California announced in early April that they'd be hiring 600 new employees to handle increased demand due to coronavirus. According to its own website, FedEx Ground has approximately 600 facilities in the United States, as well as 39 regional hubs. That math displays the potential for a ton of jobs.

Stay strong

Our world is upside down. Many of us have either lost our job or have been forced to scale back the businesses we own. It's tough. While our current situation can seem overwhelming, it is not impossible to get back on our feet.

If we take a marked, measured approach to evaluating our strengths and situational details, we can formulate a game plan that starts with the "best" opportunities and one-at-a-time moves us closer towards those areas of last resort until we find something that works. Ultimately, even these last resorts will still put food on the table and keep a roof over our heads.

Stay strong, stay proud, stay spirited. Brighter days are ahead. We got this!

Cheers.

RELATED: Laid Off? 10 Lessons I Learned From My Job Search

About the Author

Post by: Brian Kantor

Brian Kantor is a creative entrepreneur always looking for new, enriching experiences. He has launched three startups: Pour My Party, UPlanMe and Gimme Dat Beet. His corporate background lies primarily in digital marketing and ad sales with stints at Rolling Stone, BlackBook, and Hearst Media. He is also a novice real estate investor. Brian is offering free 30-minute coronavirus consultations with small business owners to help navigate this new normal and uncover potential new avenues for success. Schedule 30 minutes directly on his calendar here, and feel free to email him with any questions at hello at pourmyparty dot com.

Company: Pour My Party
Website: www.pourmyparty.com
Connect with me on Facebook and LinkedIn.

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